Tazewell baseball luminary Billy Wagner named to the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y.

Six hundred seventy-one miles separate Tannersville, Va.

and the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

Stops in Houston, Philadelphia, New York City, Boston and Atlanta add more twists on that excursion than a trip across Virginia State Route 16.

However, Tannersville is much closer to Cooperstown than ever beforeand it will be forever.

Billy Wagner, whose 16-year career as a left-handed relief pitcher featured stints with the Houston Astros, Philadelphia Phillies, New York Mets, Boston Red Sox and Atlanta Braves between 1995-2010, was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers Association of America on Tuesday.

Wagner joins Ichiro Suzuki and CC Sabathia as a part of the 2025 Hall of Fame class.

The three newest members of the Baseball Hall of Fame will be honored on Induction Weekend on July 25-27 in Cooperstown along with Dick Allen and Dave Parker, who were elected by the Classic Baseball Era Committee in December.

Wagner is excited to be an example to show those that do not look the part that anything is possible.

I did not know anybody that come from Division III as a Hall of Famer in baseball or even baseball in the state of Virginia, Wagner said Tuesday.

When you start really looking at kids and dealing with kids and dreams, having the ability to have somebody to look up to and say that its possible coming from a blue-collar background from my parents and stuff like that.

I think it meant a lot to me to get in for the ability for other kids to say that it is possible.

Wagner received 325 votes, which equated to 82.5 percent of the vote, on his tenth and final year on the ballot.

Players need to be named on at least 75 percent of ballots case by voting members of the BBWAA.

The waiting game was a tough one for Wagner.

At first, I did not know how to handle it because I did not have any experience.

Anybody that knows me well knows that I am very impatient, said Wagner, who has managed the baseball team at the Miller School of Albemarle since 2013.

It has not been an easy 10 years to sit here and swallow a lot of the things that you have to swallow.

The only thing I thought that I did well is that I did not blow a save for 10 years so I thought that might have had an input on being able to get into this.

For me, I am just happy that it is over.

Wagner is just the ninth relief pitcher to be elected to the Hall of Fame.

Wagners 422 saves rank eighth in major league history and are the second most by a left hander.

The five-foot-10 flamethrower struck out 1,196 batters while posting a 2.31 ERA during his careerthe lowest among retired left-handed pitchers with at least 500 innings pitched in the live-ball era.

Billy the Kid averaged 11.92 strikeouts per nine inningsa MLB record.

Wagner also recorded a 0.998 walks-plus-hits-per-innings-pitched (WHIP) which is the lowest among all retired relievers with at least 700 innings pitched.

Opponents owned a .187 batting average against Wagnerthe lowest since 1900.

I was always undersized.

It was never about work ethic and ability.

It was just about going out and competing, said Wagner.

To be successful and have longevity, you gotta have a lot of things.

You gotta have great teammates and you gotta be on winning teams.

I was blessed with the opportunity to be on both.

The Tazewell High School graduate was a seven-time All-Star, which includes being named an All-Star during his final season in 2010 where he posted a career best 1.43 ERA as a member of the Braves.

Wagner won the National League Rolaids Relief Man Award in 1999 as a member of the Astros.

He was a part of a combined no hitter on June 11, 2003 with Roy Oswalt, Peter Munro, Kirk Saaroloos, Brad Lidge and Octovio Dotel when the Astros defeated the Yankees 8-0.

Wagner holds the Astros record for most saves in franchise history with 225 and was elected to the Astros Hall of Fame in 2020.

The Tannersville native was drafted 12th overall in 1993 by the Astros after posting a 17-3 record at Ferrum College from 1991-93.

He posted a 1.63 ERA and struck out 327 batters as a member of the Panthers.

Wagner earned first-team All-American honors during his 1993 campaign in Franklin County.

Wagner holds the NCAA record for strikeouts per nine innings with 19.1 with 109 strikeouts in 51.1 innings in 1992.

Wagner was inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame in 2019 and the Ferrum College Sports Hall of Fame in 2003.

The Ferrum standout is the first Division III player to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Prior to his time at Ferrum, Wagner torched the Southwest District as a member of Lou Peerys Tazewell Bulldogs.

As a senior in 1990, Wagner batted .451 and went 7-1 from the bump.

Wagner was elected to the Tazewell High School Hall of Fame in its inaugural class.

Wagner, a 2012 Virginia Sports Hall of Fame inductee, becomes the sixth Virginianthe first from west of Culpeperto be enshrined in Cooperstown.

The Tazewell County native joins Ray Dandridge, Leon Day, Eppa Rixey, Pete Hill and Jud Wilson in baseball immorality.

Wagner is the first Virginian elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers Association of America.

The previous five were elected by the Veterans Committee and the Negro League Committee.

Wagners election to the Hall of Fame is the cherry on top of a story that is truly unprecedented.

The natural right-hander taught himself to throw a baseball left-handed after breaking his right arm twice as a young child.

Wagners parents divorced when he was five which resulted in a childhood spent bouncing around from living with his mother, father, grandparents and his aunt, uncle and cousins.

He grew up in a town of less than 500 people.

As a high school senior and a college freshman, he may have been five-foot-five, 135 poundshardly a physical specimen that struck fear in opposing batters.

The pro scouts found him at Ferrum Collegewhere the enrollment currently is below 1,000.

After Minor League stops in Auburn, N.Y., Davenport, Iowa, Tucson, Ariz., and Jackson, Miss., Wagner took the chip on his shoulder and ran with it to the Major Leagues.

Wagner threw 100 miles an hour for the entirety of his career.

Tuesday is a day he will never forget.

I felt like the clock stopped.

There were many times throughout this day that the emotions were running high and [I was] trying to keep myself busy.

The blessing I had was my family was here.

The only people missing were my daughter and my oldest son.

I had a lot of good friends here, said Wagner.

From about 2:00 to about 5:15, it got really slow.

It was very difficult to control things.

My family has been huge for me my whole life.

This day is really a celebration for all of us.

Now, I can finally eat a little bit today and enjoy the itinerary the next couple of days.

While his name is soon to be forever etched in the walls of the sacred building in Cooperstown, Wagner has yet to ever visit the Hall of Fame.

My dad has been there a few times and raves about it, said Wagner.

I know I am looking forward to it..

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